DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, Director 


Bulletin 580—K 


ORE DEPOSITS IN THE SAWTOOTH QUADRANGLE 
BLAINE AND CUSTER COUNTIES, IDAHO 


BY 


JOSEPH B. UMPLEBY 




CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1913, PART I—K 







WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1914 


Wonogrtph 

















































DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, Director 


Bulletin 580—Iv 


ORE DEPOSITS IN THE SAWTOOTH QUADRANGLE 
BLAINE AND CUSTER COUNTIES, IDAHO 


BY 

JOSEPH B. UMPLEBY 

/» 


CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1913, PART I—K 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 


1914 

> fojuj >• 

V « *> / l 








ThU4- 

.1 gTJss 

CONTENTS. 


Page. 

Introduction. 221 

Geography. 221 

History. 223 

Physiography. 224 

General geology. 225 

Sedimentary rocks. 225 

Igneous rocks. 226 

Granite. 226 

Dike rocks. 227 

Tertiary eruptive rocks. 228 

Ore deposits.'. 230 

Character and distribution.*. 230 

Silver-lead deposits. 230 

Silver deposits. 231 

Zinc deposits. 231 

Gold veins. 231 

Superficial deposits. 232 

Mineralogy of the ores. 232 

Alteration of the wall rock. 232 

Age of the dej)osits. 233 

Mining districts. 233 

Rosetta district. 233 

Little Smoky district. 240 

Warm Springs district. 240 

Boyle Mountain. 240 

Boulder basin. 241 

Galena district. 244 

East Fork district (Germania and Washington basins). 244 

Vienna district. 247 

Sawtooth district. 240 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Page. 

Plate III. Topographic map of the Sawtooth quadrangle, Idaho. 222 

IV. Geologic sketch map of the Sawtooth quadrangle, Idaho. 226 

Figure 57. Index map, showing location of the Sawtooth quadrangle, Idaho . 222 

ii 

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ORE DEPOSITS IN THE SAWTOOTH QUADRANGLE, 
BLAINE AND CUSTER COUNTIES, IDAHO. 


By Joseph B. Umpleby. 


INTRODUCTION. 

This report embodies the results of a rapid reconnaissance of the 
mining districts in the Sawtooth quadrangle, in Blaine and Custer 
counties, Idaho. The exceptionally rough topography, the wide 
distribution of the ore deposits over about 868 square miles, and 
the short period (12 days) available for the work made the data col¬ 
lected extremely fragmentary. As the information obtained is fuller 
than any that appears in the literature, however, it is desirable to 
place it on record. The principal sources of published information 
are scattered statements under the heading “Alturas County” in the 
reports of the Bureau of the Mint. 1 Later reports by the Director of 
the Mint do not contain information concerning the mines, and before 
the LTnited States Geological Survey commenced to collect such 
information the principal mines of the region had ceased to be 
producers. 

GEOGRAPHY. 

The Sawtooth quadrangle is a high, mountainous area with sum¬ 
mits at elevations of 9,500 to 10,000 feet above sea level and includes 
the divides between three large drainage basins. Its southwestern 
part is drained by the headwaters of Boise River, its east-central 
and southeastern parts by Wood River and its tributaries, and its 
northern part by Salmon River. (See fig. 57 and PI. III.) The Saw¬ 
tooth Mountains run sinuously across the quadrangle a little north of 
its center. From the Salmon River side they rise abruptly from a 
broad valley floor, 7,000 feet in elevation, to heights of 9,000 or 10,000 
feet, and here and there a peak rises 1,000 feet higher. As seen from 
the north the crest is exceedingly serrate and bears a striking likeness 
to the teeth of a saw. As seen from the south, however, the summits 
blend with others of the highland areas and give the impression that 
they are parts of a dissected plateau. The Smoky Mountains consti¬ 
tute a poorly defined range which extends north and south across the 
central part of the quadrangle. 

i The production of the precious metals in the United States: Kept. Director of the Mint, 1881-1884, 
inclusive. 


221 





222 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1913, PART I. 



25 0 25 50 75 100 Miles 


Figure 57.—Index map showing location of Sawtooth cpiadrangle, Idaho. 






































































































U.S.GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR BULLETIN 580 PLATE III 




















































































































ORE DEPOSITS IN SAWTOOTH QUADRANGLE, IDAHO. 223 

The canyons of the area are typically deep, narrow gorges occupied 
by rapidly flowing streams, the beds of which range upward from a 
minimum level of 5,200 feet above sea. The oidy exception is the 
valley of Salmon River, which is broad and open for the first 8 or 10 
miles within the quadrangle. West of it glaciers descending from the 
high Sawtooth Mountains have left terminal moraines at elevations 
near 7,000 feet, behind which the drainage is collected in beautiful 
lakes, which abound in fish and whose shores afford delightful camp¬ 
ing grounds. Yellow Belly, Pettit, and Alturas lakes are thus situ¬ 
ated. The streams that feed them flow from scores of smaller lakes 
situated in cirque basins high up in the mountains. 

There are three hot springs in the quadrangle, one near its northern 
edge, another southwest of Carrietown, and the third on Wood River 
near the eastern edge. The springs deposit but little material, 
though the waters reach the surface with temperatures between 125° 
and 150° F. 

Pierson, which is near the northern edge of the quadrangle, in the 
valley of Salmon River, is the only post office now in the area, and it 
receives mail but twice a week. In 1912 the industrial activity in the 
quadrangle comprised only the work of scattered groups of pros¬ 
pectors and miners, probably not more than 50 in all, and the grazing 
of large flocks of sheep during the summer months. 

The area has few trails and fewer roads. Travel is exceedingly 
difficult in most parts of it, although bands of sheep roam over it 
widely. A trail up Boise River branches to the old mining camps of 
Vienna, Sawtooth, and Carrietown. Washington and Germania 
basins connect by trail with Clayton on the north and with Galena 
on the south. A wagon road branches north from the Hailey-Soldier 
stage road and leads to Carrietown, in the southern part of the quad¬ 
rangle. Carrietown may also be reached by a road, now locally 
impassable, from Ketchum. A good road, which forms the main 
thoroughfare from Hailey and Ketchum to Pierson and Stanley 
Basin, crosses the northern part of the quadrangle along the valleys 
of Wood and Salmon rivers. It passes through the old smelter town 
of Galena, and branches from it lead to the now abandoned camps 
of Vienna and Sawtooth and to Germania Basin, Alturas Lake, 
and Pettit Lake, all within the drainage basin of Salmon River. 
A branch from it also leads up Boulder Creek canyon to the deposits 
in Boulder Basin. 

HISTORY. 

The earliest locations in the quadrangle were made in Boulder 
Basin in 1879 and on the east slope of Dollarhide Mountain in 1880, 
thus following closely the discovery of the rich silver-lead deposits 
near Hailey in 1878. During the three or four years following lode 
deposits were located in many parts of the area, and thriving mining 


224 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1913, PART I. 

' V 

centers sprang up near Carrietown, Boyle Mountain, Boulder Basin, 
Galena, Vienna, Sawtooth, and Germania Basin. The period of 
prosperity, however, was comparatively short, for in all the camps by 
1890, and in most of the camps earlier, operations had almost ceased. 
The production during these few years can not be definitely ascer¬ 
tained, but fragmentary records and the statements of those who 
were connected with mining in the area indicate that it amounted to 
about $5,000,000, nearly all of it from silver-lead and silver ores. 
The deposits were rich in silver near the outcrop, shipments averaging 
several hundred ounces to the ton being not uncommon, particularly 
from the Sawtooth district. Concentrating mills were built in each 
of the districts, except Galena and Germania Basin, to handle the 
lower-grade ore. A 30-ton lead smelter was erected at Galena, but 
did not produce much bullion. A smelter at Ketchum handled a 
great deal of the ore; some was shipped to the smelter at Clayton, 
north of the area, and some was sent to reduction works farther away. 

During recent years only the mill in Boulder Basin has been 
operated. The small amount of ore recently extracted from the other 
deposits has been mostly hand sorted and shipped to smelters in Utah. 

PHYSIOGRAPHY. 

The relief of the quadrangle ranges from 5,200 feet above sea level 
in the canyon of South Fork of Boise River to a little over 11,300 
feet on the south wall of Boulder Basin. Common elevations, how¬ 
ever, range from 7,000 feet in the canyons to 10,000 feet on the sum¬ 
mits. The summits show a general accordance in level, which 
determines an undulating plain, which rises notably along the axis 
of the Sawtooth Mountains. This old erosion surface, well defined in 
areas farther northeast, 1 is not well preserved in this area and would 
scarcely be recognized were it not for the proximity of the other areas 
and its definiteness in them, but there can be little doubt that it 
extended over the Sawtooth quadrangle. 

The relations of lava-filled valleys to uplands are the same here as 
elsewhere in east-central Idaho, the summits are of comparable 
height, the ridges and divides are similarly discordant in direction 
and distribution, and the relative resistance to erosion of different 
rock formations does not determine the elevation of the summits. 

The physiographic history of this area, as interpreted largely in 
the light of the areas to the northeast, is legible for only the relatively 
small portion of geologic time that has elapsed since the late Mesozoic. 
Near the close of the Cretaceous period extensive regional elevation, 
thought to have been accompanied by the intrusion of the great 
granite mass which crops out over about half the quadrangle, reju- 


i Umpleby, J. B., Some ore deposits of northwestern Custer County, Idaho: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 
539, pp. 15-17, 1913. 





ORE DEPOSITS IN SAWTOOTH QUADRANGLE, IDAHO. 225 

venated the streams and began a period of erosion wliich by the close 
of the Eocene epoch had formed a far-reaching surface of slight relief. 

This old surface now recorded by the summits of the area was 
raised to an elevation of nearly 10,000 feet at the close of the Eocene 
or early in the Oligocene, and the drainage ways again became chan¬ 
nels of active erosion. During the Oligocene epoch the major 
streams, one of wliich flowed through the valley of the upper Salmon 
River and continued southward along the eastern side of the quad¬ 
rangle to Camas Prairie, developed broad, deep valleys, wliich in the 
Miocene and possibly also in part of the Pliocene were the sites of 
lava flows and probably locally of lacustrine deposition. 

The Pliocene, again, was a period of dominant erosion, in which 
the valley of Warm Springs Creek was cut to a depth of more than 
2,000 feet into the Miocene lavas, and in the Pleistocene the upper 
ends of its branches were glaciated down to levels of 7,000 to 7,500 
feet. During this epoch ice fields covered the uplands and the 
glaciers that occupied the higher portions of the valleys carved 
many of the features wliich now lend picturesqueness to the region. 

GENERAL GEOLOGY. 

SEDIMENTARY ROCKS. 

Stratified rocks of probably Paleozoic age crop out in several parts 
of the quadrangle. (See PI. IV.) The largest area is principally 
within the drainage basins of Germania and Pole creeks. Here the 
beds comprise fine-grained quartzite and dark-colored massive dolo- 
mitic limestone that grades upward into blue and white limestone 
beds and on into black slate, the slaty and quartzitic rocks being most 
abundant and apparently representing several thousand feet of beds. 
The sedimentary rocks also crop out in the vicinity of Boulder Basin, 
where a thick series of bluish and gray fine-grained quartzites and 
siliceous slates are exposed in the walls of Boulder Canyon. Another 
area of the Paleozoic beds extends from a point a few miles north of 
Boyle Mountain southward well beyond the quadrangle. Very little 
was seen of this area, but as the beds observed are similar in appear¬ 
ance to those in the vicinity of Hailey, a few miles to the east, it is 
believed that they represent the Wood River formation of Lindgren, 1 
which is of Carboniferous age. The most abundant rock in the 
formation seems to be a reddish-gray and brown sandstone, in part 
calcareous. Perhaps second in importance is black calcareous shale, 
wliich apparently incloses beds of massive gray limestone. The 
remaining area of the Paleozoic rocks is in the vicinity of Carrietown. 
This seems to be a roof pendant of the granite mass which crops out 


1 Lindgren, Walderaar, The gold and silver veins of Silver City, De Lamar, and other mining districts 
in Idaho: U. S. Geol. Survey Twentieth Ann. Rept., pt. 3, pp. 193-195, 1900. 





226 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1913, PART I. 

on all sides except to the southeast, where the beds disappear be¬ 
neath Tertiary eruptive rocks. The beds include limestone, mag¬ 
nesian limestone, slate, and quartzite. 

Throughout all the areas the Paleozoic beds dip steeply, in most 
places away from north-south axes. Fossils were not discovered in 
them. They are not uniformly metamorphosed, and only locally 
along their contact with the granite do they contain secondary 
silicate minerals in quantity or size sufficient to be visible with a 
hand lens. At a few such places pyroxene, andalusite, epidote, and 
fibrous wollastonite and actinolite were detected. 

Lacustrine deposits, probably of Miocene age, are believed to be 
present in the portion of the old valley which was not flooded with 
lavas. ' The presence of these deposits has not, however, been estab¬ 
lished, as the area believed to be occupied by them is now covered 
with recent alluvium and with a heavy mantle of outwash deposits, 
principally gravels, derived from the glaciers that occupied the adja¬ 
cent uplands during the Pleistocene epoch. 

IGNEOUS ROCKS. 

GRANITE. 

The central granite batholitli of Idaho, one of the great intrusive 
masses of the North American continent, extends into the quadrangle 
from the west and comprises about two-thirds of its area. (See PI. 
IV.) In most places its contact with the older sedimentary rocks 
is concealed by the broad belt of Tertiary lavas which follows the 
course of Salmon and Wood rivers to a point near the eastern border 
of the quadrangle and there turns south and joins the Snake River 
Plains in the vicinity of Camas Prairie. South of Boyle Mountain, 
however, a small mass of the granite crops out among Paleozoic rocks, 
and in the vicinity of Carrietown a small area of the sedimentary beds 
rises westward from beneath the lavas and is bordered on three sides 
by granite. Near the northern border of the quadrangle the granite 
and the sedimentary rocks are in contact for a few miles. 

The granite area includes granite, quartz monzonite, and quartz 
diorite, each of the varieties resembling the others closely in mega¬ 
scopic appearance. The quartz diorite in general seems to contain 
more biotite and hornblende and is consequently somewhat darker, 
but its color is by no means a reliable distinguishing characteristic, 
for in places the granite is equally dark. 

All the specimens from the vicinity of Carrietown are of quartz 
diorite. The rock is dark gray, equigranular, and made up of feld- 
spar, quartz, biotite, and hornblende. Microscopic examination 
shows that the feldspars are oligoclase and andesine, no orthoclase 
being obseived. Titanite, magnetite, and apatite are the principal 
accessory minerals. 


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ORE DEPOSITS IN SAWTOOTH QUADRANGLE, IDAHO. 227 

A specimen from near Boyle Mountain is a soda granite of dark- 
gray color and medium-grained texture, composed of feldspar, 
quartz, and biotite. In thin section the feldspars are seen to be 
orthoclase, notable amounts of albite, and a little oligoclase. In 
places the orthoclase and albite form microperthite. Apatite and 
zircon are the principal accessory minerals. 

The rock inclosing the veins of the Vienna district is a light-gray 
medium-grained biotite granite, made up of orthoclase, microcline, 
a little albite, quartz, and biotite. Adjacent to the veins it contains 
much secondary pyrite, a little magnetite and chlorite after the biotite 
and sericite after the feldspars, and, in one section, epidote. 

In Washington Basin quartz monzonite, characterized by a marked 
phenocrystic development of the feldspars, is exposed over a small 
area. This rock is gray and is made up of large crystals of orthoclase 
set in a groundmass of medium-grained feldspar, quartz, and biotite. 
The groundmass is packed with micropegmatite, which also occurs 
in zones surrounding orthoclase crystals. Plagioclase, mostly oligo¬ 
clase, is somewhat less than orthoclase in amount and much of it 
shows marked zonal growths. Near the ore deposits the quartz 
monzonite becomes greenish gray in color and has a silky luster. It 
grades through zones in which patches of secondary pyrite and 
sphalerite occur in chloritized quartz monzonite into ledge matter 
made up of arsenopyrite, pyrrhotite, quartz, sphalerite, and pyrite, 
in which the original granite can be identified only locally. 

DIKE ROCKS. 

Dike rocks occur in several parts of the quadrangle, but only in 
Boulder Basin were they observed to be particularly numerous. 
They comprise perhaps one-third of the rock exposed in the basin 
and present a wide range in composition and in size, individual in¬ 
trusions ranging from a few inches to a few hundred feet in width. 
The study of their relations and differences was too hurried to permit 
detailed descriptions, but granite porphyry, quartz monzonite por¬ 
phyry, diorite, and a rare lamprophyre, spessartite, were identified. 

The granite porphyry is steel gray and is made up of phenocrysts 
of feldspar and a little hornblende, closely spaced in a fine-grained 
groundmass. Orthoclase exceeds albite in amount, hornblende is 
abundant both in the groundmass and as phenocrysts, and quartz is 
confined almost entirely to the groundmass. 

Quartz monzonite porphyry traverses the vein in Golden Glow 
tunnel No. 2. It is a light-gray rock with phenocrysts of feldspar 
and a little quartz, biotite, and hornblende set in a fine-grained 
groundmass. The feldspars include oligoclase and orthoclase in 
about equal amounts. In the specimen studied the biotite and 


52635°—14-2 






228 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1013, PART I. 

• \ 

hornblende are largely altered to epidote, chlorite, and magnetite, 
and se.ricite*is developed after some of the feldspars. 

Diorite porphyry, a greenish-gray rock with numerous medium¬ 
sized phenocrysts of feldspar, occurs near the mouth of Golden Glow 
tunnel No. 2. Plagioclase, of about the composition oligoclase- 
andesine, greatly exceeds biotite in amount. Secondary minerals 
in the specimen are epidote, after the biotite and some of the feldspar, 
and sericite, after the feldspar. Pyrite also is present. 

The specimen of spessartite was obtained near the face of Golden 
Glow tunnel No. 2 and is a dark-colored rock with phenocrysts of 
hornblende and sparsely scattered biotite in a holocrystalline ground- 
mass. The hornblende occurs in two distinct generations and 
about equals the oligoclase in quantity. One large grain of quartz 
and three small grains of pyrite occur in the section. The ground- 
mass is an aggregate of interlocking feldspar and hornblende crystals. 

In the vicinity of Carrietown diorite porphyry, monzonite porphyry, 
and granite porphyry dikes were observed along the ridge north of 
Dollarhide Mountain, where they traverse both the quartz diorite 
and the Paleozoic sedimentary rocks. They are similar in appear¬ 
ance and mineralogy to those above described from Boulder Basin. 

TERTIARY ERUPTIVE ROCKS. 

Tertiary lava rocks and related tuffs form a wide belt that follows 
the valleys of Salmon and Wood livers to the eastern border of the 
quadrangle and there turns south-southwest and leaves the area 
between Buttercup Mountain and Sydney Butte. A branch leads 
northeastward in the vicinity of Galena and another eastward along 
Wood River. Except within the drainage of Salmon River they 
fill an old erosion valley, the bed of which is nowhere exposed within 
the area. The contact of the lavas with the older rocks was seen 
only in places where the boundary is indicated on the map by solid 
lines, but as the areas of these rocks contrast sharply in color with 
the light gray of the granite soil, it is believed that their general 
distribution is about as indicated. Warm Springs Creek traverses 
the lava belt between Boyle Mountain and Dollarhide Mountain. 
Its canyon is from 2,000 to 3,000 feet deep, but in no place has it 
cut through the eruptive rocks. Within this drainage basin ande¬ 
site predominates, but on the upper slopes there is considerable 
rhyolite and some poorly bedded rhyolitic tuffs. 

The lavas are believed to occupy an old erosion valley, because 
much of the basin in which they occur lies athwart the structure 
axes of the region, and because there is no evidence of faulting in 
any of the several exposures observed along the sides of the basin. 
In places along their margins the basal lavas have picked up vast 
quantities of fragmental material from the underlying beds, as 


ORE DEPOSITS IN SAWTOOTH QUADRANGLE, IDAHO. 229 

near the mouth of Thompson Creek; elsewhere, as on the east slope 
of Dollarhide Mountain, they rest against a surface of weathered 
granite. Except in the extreme northern part of the belt the 
lavas essentially fill the old valley, and in the vicinity of Easly 
and Galena peaks they rise somewhat higher than the general 
upland level. Within the Salmon River drainage area much of the 
old valley was probably never filled with lava rock, for if it was it 
seems impossible to account for the broad valley, which is now so 
strikingly discordant with the other topographic features of the 
region. This discordance is particularly emphasized by the deep, 
narrow canyon, cut in rocks of similar composition and structure, 
which is entered by Salmon River about 25 miles north of the quad¬ 
rangle. It is not unlikely that lacustrine deposits underlie this por¬ 
tion of the old valley, for there seems to have been no outlet from 
the basin until the Salmon River canyon was excavated, and this 
must have required a very long time. It is not impossible that 
the waters draining into the basin escaped southward beneath the 
lavas along the old channel, but there is no specific evidence in sup¬ 
port of this idea. If a lake existed in this basin rock waste from 
the high mountains adjacent certainly accumulated in it as lacus¬ 
trine deposits, and if no lake existed subaerial deposits as certainly 
formed. These older beds, believed to be present, are now well con¬ 
cealed by a heavy mantle of outwash derived from the glaciers which 
occupied the adjacent uplands during the Pleistocene epoch and by 
alluvium of more recent origin. 

The lava rock comprises principally andesite and rhyolite, but ex¬ 
perience elsewhere in the same general series suggests that many of 
the andesites as determined microscopically would prove on chem¬ 
ical analysis to be latites. 1 Associated with the lavas are their 
related tuffs, but these were not observed to be abundant anywhere 
within the quadrangle. The andesites are greenish, purplish, laven¬ 
der, or gray; some contain important amounts of biotite, others 
considerable quantities of hornblende, and in a few specimens augite 
is conspicuous. In them the phenocrysts and groundmass are 
about equal in area. The feldspars in different specimens range in 
composition from Ab 70 An 30 to Ab 55 An 45 , or from a calcic oligoclase to 
a calcic andesine. The groundmass in most of the thin sections is 
cryptocrystalline to glassy. Rhyolite was observed as a light-gray 
rock along the upper slopes of the valley of Warm Springs Creek. 
Orthoclase quartz and rarely sanidine appear as scattered phenocrysts 
in a cryptocrystalline groundmass which shows distinct flow structure 
and is made up of microlites of feldspar which in many places give 
way to glass. 


i Umpleby, J. B., U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 528, pp. 47-48, 1913, and Bull. 539, pp. 25-26, 1913. 



‘230 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1913, PART I. 

: V * 

ORE DEPOSITS. 

CHARACTER AND DISTRIBUTION. 

The principal ore deposits found in the Sawtooth quadrangle are 
fissure veins and replacements along shear zones. Only one epoch of 
mineralization is recognized, and this followed the intrusion of the 
granite batholitli in late Cretaceous or early Eocene time and pre¬ 
ceded the filling of the old valley, which, as indicated in areas farther 
north, probably took place principally during the Miocene epoch. 1 
The veins may be grouped according to the leading metal contained, 
as silver-lead, silver, zinc, and gold deposits, and they will be described 
in the order named. Of the production of perhaps $5,000,000 
credited to the quadrangle, nearly all has come from the first two 
groups of deposits. The zinc ores have yielded $40,000 or $50,000, 
but the gold veins have not been exploited to economic advantage. 

The known deposits occur in the southern, eastern, and northern 
parts of the quadrangle. Nearly all were staked out and exploited 
within five years after the discovery of the rich silver-lead deposits 
near Hailey in 1879. Even the gold veins of Washington Basin were 
known to the early prospectors, who spread into the surrounding 
country from the camps of Vienna and Sawtooth, but not until 1894 
were claims staked to cover them. 

SILVER-LEAD DEPOSITS. 

Argentiferous galena deposits occur in all the districts in the quad¬ 
rangle, though ores of this type afforded but a small part of the pro¬ 
duction from the mines near Sawtooth and Vienna. The veins are 
typical fissure fillings and replacements along sheared zones and are 
distinctly tabular in outline. Siderite and quartz are the character¬ 
istic gangue minerals. Sphalerite, tetrahedrite, and locally arseno- 
pyrite and pyrrhotite are associated ydth the galena in most of the 
veins. The veins traverse the Paleozoic beds near Carrietown, Boyle 
Mountain, and in Boulder, Germania, and Washington basins. At 
Vienna and Sawtooth they are inclosed in biotite granite, and in the 
vicinity of Boyle Mountain some of them extend from the area of 
Paleozoic rocks across the igneous contact into the soda granite. 

The amount of silver in the ores varies from place to place, even in 
the same district. Thus the Silver Star ore contained 15 to 16 ounces 
of silver to the ton, and the Isabella, less than a mile away, averaged 
from 200 to 400 ounces. Shipments from different shoots in the 
Golden Glow mine contained widely different amounts of silver, the 
range being from 56 to 360 ounces to the ton. The silver content of 
the ore is not invariably related to its content of lead; where it is 
particularly high it seems to be concomitant with the presence of 
gray copper. In the Boulder Basin and Sawtooth districts gold 


1 Umpleby, J. B., loc. cit. 




ORE DEPOSITS IN SAWTOOTH QUADRANGLE, IDAHO. 231 

accompanies the lead in noteworthy amounts. The Golden Glow 
ores as now worked contain 0.32 to 0.63 ounce of gold to the ton and 
assays of the Mountain King ores give returns of 0.58 ounce to 1.58 
ounces of gold. Elsewhere in the quadrangle gold occurs in the 
silver-lead ores but in less amount than in these districts. 

SILVER DEPOSITS. 

It is impossible to draw a sharp line of demarcation between the 
silver and the silver-lead deposits. Many of the mines were worked 
primarily for silver but at the same time produced considerable 
amounts of lead. Others were worked exclusively for silver, the 
small amount of lead in the ore being lost in the metallurgic process 
used. Only deposits that were worked for silver alone are here dis¬ 
cussed, and these include the veins of the Sawtooth and the Vienna 
districts. The Mountain King mine, in the Vienna district, however, 
has recently been worked for lead-silver ores which were left in the 
mine during the early period of activity, when only silver and gold 
were recovered. 

The silver-bearing veins occur well within the main granite mass 
and are extensively developed by tunnels, few of which are now 
accessible. The veins range from a few inches to 15 feet in width 
and are characteristically quartz fillings containing tetrahedrite, 
proustite, and silver-bearing galena and sphalerite. Some of the 
ores are said to have contained as much as 4,000 ounces of silver to 
the ton, but the average was probably less than 75 ounces. Only the 
Mountain King mine (see p. 248) was accessible at the time of visit. 

ZINC DEPOSITS. 

Deposits of zinc occur in the Lucky Boy mine, which is on the east 
side of Kooks Canyon, southeast of Boyle Mountain. This mine has 
produced about 2,600 tons of 45 per cent zinc ore from veins worked 
intermittently for several years. The mine was not visited during the 
reconnaissance, but specimens of the ore consist of sphalerite, pyrite, 
and a little galena and arsenopyrite in a quartz-siderite gangue. 

GOLD VEINS. 

Large low-grade gold veins, entirely different in character from 
any other of the deposits, occur in Washington Basin about half a mile 
north of the quadrangle. Here five ledges from 6 to 72 feet in width 
cross a low ridge which divides a large cirque into two basins. All 
the veins are inclosed in porphyritic quartz monzonite, which at 
many localities is clearly replaced by the vein material. Three of 
the veins have been opened in several places by short tunnels, pits, 
and open cuts, and each opening reveals quartz which is either 
honeycombed and iron-stained or is heavily impregnated with pyr- 
rhotite, pyrite, or arsenopyrite. The principal vein is called the 


232 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1913, PART I. 

‘ V 

Empire and averages about 30 feet in width through an extent of 
four claims. Near the surface this vein is intensely oxidized, but at 
a depth of a few feet primary minerals appear. Arsenopyrite, sphal¬ 
erite, and galena occur as small patches, but near its southern end 
pyrrhotite and about an equal amount of intermixed quartz and 
diopside form a band, 15 to 20 feet wide, next to the hanging wall. 
The pyrrhotite clearly replaces the quartz monzonite, the quartz of 
which remains. The feldspar and biotite crystals are completely 
transformed to pyrrhotite and diopside. Farther north on the 
Empire vein sphalerite occurs with small amounts of pyrite, stibnite, 
pyrrhotite, and arsenopyrite. 

The granite adjacent to the vein is intensely sericitized and locally 
is greenish gray and has a silky luster. It passes through a zone in 
which patches of pyrite and sphalerite occur in chloritized and sericit¬ 
ized quartz monzonite into ledge matter made up of sulphide min¬ 
erals, pyroxene, and quartz, in which the original quartz monzonite 
is only locally and imperfectly preserved. 

The tenor of these veins is not known, but that they contain some 
gold was proved by panning the specimens collected. In the section 
on Germania and Washington basins (pp. 244-246) appears addi¬ 
tional information concerning them. 

SUPERFICIAL DEPOSITS. 

Gold placers that occur along the upper valley of Little Smoky 
Creek have been worked intermittently in a small way for a number 
of years. They were not examined during the reconnaissance. 

MINERALOGY OF THE ORES. 

The mineralogy of the ores of the Sawtooth quadrangle is compara¬ 
tively simple. The more abundant minerals in the lead-silver and 
silver deposits are argentiferous galena and sphalerite, tetrahedrite, 
proustite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, and locally arsenopyrite, and pyrrho¬ 
tite in a quartz-siderite gangue. In the gold-bearing veins the char¬ 
acteristic minerals are pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite, and pyrite, along 
with a little sphalerite, galena, stibnite, and chalcopyrite in a quartz 
gangue in which diopside is locally abundant. 

Oxidation in few places extends more than 100 feet below the sur¬ 
face, and in most of the deposits primary ore occurs within a depth 
of 50 feet. The common alteration products are lead carbonate, 
cerargyrite, iron and manganese oxides, copper carbonates, smith- 
sonite, and calamine. 

ALTERATION OF THE WALL ROCK. 

Alteration seems to be more pronounced in the igneous than in 
the sedimentary wall rock. Specimens of granite taken near the ore 
bodies in the Vienna district are packed with sericite that developed 


ORE DEPOSITS IN SAWTOOTH QUADRANGLE, IDAHO. 233 

after the feldspars and locally after the biotite and with chlorite and 
epidote that developed after the biotite. In Washington Basin much 
of the vein material is clearly replaced quartz monzonite, it being 
possible to obtain specimens showing every gradation from material 
composed principally of quartz, pyrrhotite, sphalerite, and arseno- 
pyrite or quartz, pyrrhotite, and diopside to quartz monzonite con¬ 
taining isolated patches of secondary pyrite and sphalerite in chlori- 
tized and sericitized quartz monzonite. 

In view of the intense metasomatic replacement and the diopsidi- 
zation of the quartz monzonite in the deposits of Washington Basin, 
it is perhaps surprising that no contact metamorphic replacement 
deposits have been found. All the veins in Washington Basin, 
however, are within the area of the igneous rock, and it is possible 
that overlying contact deposits have been swept away by the erosion 
which formed the basin. 

AGE OF THE DEPOSITS. 

The deposits of the quadrangle are believed to represent one general 
epoch of mineralization, which was closely related to that of the 
intrusion of the Idaho batholith. At Vienna, Sawtooth, and in 
Washington Basin the ores are inclosed in the igneous mass; elsewhere 
they are in sedimentary rocks not far removed from the igneous con¬ 
tact. In Boulder Basin and in the vicinity of Carrietown dikes of 
granite porphyry and diorite porphyry traverse the veins. These 
dikes are very different in appearance from those that accompanied 
the Miocene lavas and quite certainly are differentiates from the 
batholithic magma. The ore solutions therefore are believed to 
have escaped from the batholithic mass before it had completely 
solidified. The granite of the batholith is believed to be of late Cre¬ 
taceous or early Eocene age, and hence the veins belong to the pre- 
Oligocene deposits recognized elsewhere in the State. 1 The late 
Tertiary epoch of mineralization is not known to be represented in 
the quadrangle. 

MINING DISTRICTS OF THE SAWTOOTH QUAD RAN GEE. 

ROSETTA DISTRICT. 

GENERAL FEATURES. 

The Rosetta district, sometimes included in the Little Smoky dis~ 
trict, embraces an unorganized area of perhaps 100 square miles in 
the vicinity of Carrietown in the southern part of the quadrangle. 
Dollarhide Mountain is the principal landmark in the vicinity, 
though it is but little higher than many other summits in the region. 
A wagon road, about half a mile of which was impassable for vehicles 


i Umpleby, J. B., Geology and ore deposits of Lemhi County, Idaha: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 528, pp. 
2S68, 1913. 




234 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1913, PART I. 

in 1912, leads 22 miles east to Ketchum. Except for the Dollarhide 
summit this road has an easy grade, and it might be put in excellent 
condition by an expenditure of a few thousand dollars. The high¬ 
way from Carrietown now in use follows down Came Leonard Creek 
and thence east over Sheep Creek summit and joins the main stage 
road between Hailey and Soldier. The 4 or 5 miles of this road 
below Carrietown is along the creek bed and washes badly during the 
spring freshets. 

HISTORY AND PRODUCTION. 

The principal mineral locations were made in 1881 and 1882, and 
for a score or more of years thereafter the Rosetta district was one of 
the active mining centers in Idaho. Five concentrating mills were 
in operation part of the time and much of the better grade of ore was 
packed and. later hauled to the smelter at Ketchum. During recent 
years, however, the district has been comparatively inactive and 
efforts to recover in depth the veins which were exceptionally pro¬ 
ductive near the surface have met with indifferent success. None 
of the mills have been operated for several years and most of them 
are partly dismantled. The principal activity in 1912 was directed 
toward locating at a depth of 280 feet the Carrie Leonard veins, 
which are locally reported to have produced approximately $500,000 
from above the 150-foot level. This work was continued during 
1913 and served to indicate that the argentiferous galena gives way 
to sphalerite, pyrite, and arsenopyrite in depth. 

The total production of the district does not appear in official 
records and can be approximated only from the output of individual 
mines as reported by residents of the vicinity. The Carrie Leonard, 
said to have yielded $500,000, holds the highest record of production. 
Then follows the King of the West with $200,000, the Stormy Galore 
and Tyrannus with $100,000 each, the Dollarhide and Silver Star with 
about $75,000 each, the Margaret with $30,000, the Isabella with 
possibly $20,000, and the Sunday with perhaps $15,000. In all, the 
district has produced perhaps $1,000,000. 

TOPOGRAPHY. 

The Rosetta district is a high, mountainous area, which ranges in 
elevation from 5,500 to 9,000 feet. The western part is drained by 
tributaries of Big and Little Smoky creeks, which flow westward 
into West Fork of Boise River. The eastern part is drained by 
Warm Springs Creek, a tributary of Wood River. The area has a 
wide range in climate. In summer it is a beautiful park, in which a 
dense forest of fir and pine rises above a fairly open undergrowth, 
but in winter it is a desolate expanse of snow, traveled by men only 
on skees and webs. The open season includes the months from May 
to November. 


ORE DEPOSITS IN SAWTOOTH QUADRANGLE, IDAHO. 


235 


GEOLOGY. 

The rock formations of the district include a small area of Paleo¬ 
zoic sedimentary rocks, bordered on the southeast by Tertiary lavas 
and on the other sides by the great granite batholith of Idaho, which 
extends westward and northward for several hundred miles. The 
sedimentary rocks include limestone, magnesian limestone, slate, and 
quartzite and dip 20° to 50° E. Dikes of diorite and monzonite 
porphyry traverse both the granite and the Paleozoic rocks. They 
are well exposed on the ridge north of Dollarhide Mountain but 
occur also in several of the mines. (See p. 228.) 

Perhaps the most noteworthy feature of the geologic relations of 
this district is the absence of important contact metamorphism, 
even in the limestone areas. The microscope reveals a little diop- 
side and a few shreds of wollastonite and termolite, but in no expo¬ 
sures seen were metamorphic minerals visible with a hand lens. 
This contrasts markedly with the observations of Lindgren on the 
contacts of the Ilailey area to the east 1 but agrees well with the 
general observation that metamorphic minerals are not uniformly 
developed around intrusive masses even when in contact with 
rocks that are similar in composition and structural features. 

ORE DEPOSITS. 

The ore deposits of the district occur as veins and tabular replace¬ 
ments, containing principally argentiferous galena, tetrahedrite, and 
sphalerite in a quartz-siderite gangue. Pyrite, chalcopyrite, and a 
little arsenopyrite are present in many of the ores. Most of the 
veins occur along crushed zones, and large quantities of fragmental 
wall rock are included in the gangue. The common strike of the 
veins is northeast-southwest, with dip either to the northwest or to 
the southeast, in most places at angles greater than 45°. There is 
little evidence of hydrothermal alteration, but replacement phe¬ 
nomena are plentifully illustrated. Bunches and stringers of ore 
protrude into the wall rock in many places, and the veins are markedly 
different in width within very short distances. 

The ores mined were of excellent grade and were valuable chiefly 
for their silver content, which in different veins ranges from 17 to 
400 ounces to the ton, the principal production having been derived 
from ores averaging 100 to 200 ounces. 

Oxidation is confined to a narrow zone near the surface and in 
none of the deposits is it complete to a depth greater than 50 feet. 
The outcrops of the ledges are characterized by iron-stained quartz, 
coarsely honeycombed, with widely spaced cavities of unequal size 


1 Lindgren, Waldemar, The gold and silver veins of Silver City, De Lamar, and other mining districts 
in Idaho: U. S. Geol. Survey, Twentieth Ann. Rept.,p. 195, 1900. 



236 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1013, PART I. 

■ V 

and irregular shape. Within a few feot and in places within a few 
inches of the surface, however, the quartz becomes solid and primary 
sulphide minerals appear. Galena occurs nearer to the surface than 
any of the other sulphide minerals, and most specimens of surface 
ore contain fragments of it. Recent developments on the Dollar- 
hide and Carrie Leonard veins indicate that galena decreases and 
sphalerite increases markedly in depth. 

The age and genesis of the deposits have already been discussed 
(p. 233), but note may be made here of the dike of diorite porphyry 
that traverses the vein in the Dollarhide mine. This dike is almost 
certainly a differentiate from the granite magma. Elsewhere in the 
vicinity veins traverse the granite. This seems to show that the ore 
solutions escaped from the magma before its solidification was 
complete. 

MINES AND PRINCIPAL PROSPECTS. 

Carrie Leonard mine .—The Carrie Leonard group, comprising 
eight patented claims, occupies the lower end of the sharp ridge 
between the two branches of Carrie Leonard Creek at Carrietown. 
The present working tunnel enters the hill from the northwest at a 
point near the creek level about 200 yards above the town. Other 
developments include three tunnels from the north and an equal 
number from the south. A 40-ton concentrating mill, formerly 
equipped with wilfleys and jigs but now dismantled, is situated on 
the south side of the ridge. 

Two veins, both inclosed in hard black, locally calcareous quartzite, 
have been worked and have yielded about $500,000. One of the 
veins strikes N. 40° E. and dips 40° SE.; the other strikes N. 55° E. 
and dips 58° SE. They cross within the claim, and the best ore has 
been found by following down along their intersection, where the ore 
is said to have averaged 30 per cent lead, 5 to 6 per cent zinc, and 150 
ounces of silver to the ton. This grade of ore extended southward 
from the intersection for 100 feet along one vein and for about 70 feet 
along the other, and it continued to a vertical depth of 160 feet, or 
650 feet down the line of intersection. Below this point, which is 
130 feet above the level of the gulch, little ore has been found. 
Although the vein here is persistent and the gangue is similar to that 
above, galena seems to have given way to sphalerite. The bottoms 
of the old stopes were inaccessible in most places at the time of visit, 
but in every place observed the ore shoots seemed to pinch out. 
A strong fault transverse to the course of the vein is exposed in 
tunnel No. 2, but as it crosses at a point 70 feet beyond the end of the 
shoot its bearing on the continuation of the ore is of doubtful sig¬ 
nificance. 

Dollarhide mine .—The Dollarhide group comprises 17 claims on 
the divide between Carrie Leonard and Warm Springs creeks. At 


ORE DEPOSITS IN SAWTOOTH QUADRANGLE, IDAHO. 237 

the point where the road crosses this divide it is 8,719 feet above the 
sea. To the east and to the west the claims extend down the slopes 
to an elevation of about 8,000 feet, and to the north, near the prin¬ 
cipal workings, the ridge rises to 9,200 feet. East of the divide is a 
partly dismantled 40-ton concentrating mill. 

The developments include 3,000 feet of work in four tunnels about 
100 feet apart. The upper two are no longer accessible and the lowest 
has not been carried to the vein. Tunnel No. 3 is the principal level 
and may be entered through either of two portals, which are 535 feet 
apart. The southern portal is the end of a 120-foot crosscut, which 
extends westward to the surface from a point on the vein about mid¬ 
way between the north portal and the face of the workings. 

The vein, which is inclosed in massive limestone, some of it very 
siliceous, strikes N. 50°-60° W. and dips 60° SW. in the eastern part 
of the mine and 70° NE. in the western part, the dips being opposite 
on opposite sides of a diorite porphyry dike which crosses tunnel 
No. 3 about halfway between the two portals. Near the northern 
adit of tunnel No. 3 it is crossed by a fault which strikes N. 10° E. 
and dips 28° SE. Ore has not been found west of it. Faults also 
cross the ore body in the eastern end of the workings, one of them 
causing an offset of 10 feet to the north on the east side and another 
an offset of 80 feet in the same direction. 

The vein is 3 to 6 feet wide and consists of quartz, through which 
sphalerite and galena are scattered, and of crushed wall rock in about 
equal amounts. The better grade of ore occurs as ill-defined lenses 
that are greatly elongated nearly parallel to the strike of the vein. 
One of these lenses lies between levels Nos. 2 and 3, s but extends down 
to No. 3 only in a few places. 

Isabella mine .—The Isabella, comprising one patented claim, lies 
between the Carrie Leonard and Dollarhide groups. The develop¬ 
ments consist of three short tunnels and a 50-foot shaft, all inaccessi¬ 
ble at the time of the examination. The mine was discovered in 
1881 and was operated by lessees for a number of years. The ore is 
said to have been of excellent grade, some of it containing as high as 
400 ounces of silver to the ton along with lead and a little zinc. 
The mine is credited with a production of $25,000. 

Margaret mine .—The Margaret claim, situated east of the Dollar¬ 
hide group, at an elevation of 8,200 feet, back of the Dollarhide mill, 
was discovered in 1880 and is the oldest location in the vicinity of 
Carrietown. It produced $32,000 from highly argentiferous lead ore. 
The developments include about 1,500 feet of drifts and tunnels, no 
longer accessible. The ore body occurred as a horizontal lens in a 
steeply dipping crushed zone which traverses siliceous limestone 
beds. Other ore bodies have not been found. 

Silver Star mine .—The Silver Star mine is situated about a mile 
southwest of Carrietown at an elevation of 7,700 feet. It is well 


238 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1913, PART I. 

: V 

within the area of sedimentary rocks that comprises the productive 
portion of the district. The mine has not been operated since 1888 
and most of the workings are now inaccessible. The property includes 
10 to 12 patented claims and a 20-stamp concentrating mill, which 
after running 20 days was in part dismantled because the amount of 
silver in the ore fell far below expectations. The ore is said to aver¬ 
age 15 or 16 ounces to the ton in silver and about 4 per cent lead with 
an equal or greater amount of zinc. The developments include an 
incline 270 feet deep with drifts at vertical depths of 105, 155, and 205 
feet below the collar. The lowest level, No. 3, connects with the sur¬ 
face by a crosscut tunnel and a prospect winze follows the ledge to a 
farther depth of 200 feet. The drifts on the vein aggregate about 
2,500 feet in length and explore the ledge for 300 feet west of the 
shaft on levels Nos. 1 and 3 and for 700 feet east of the shaft on 
levels Nos. 2 and 3. Very little stoping has been done, the production 
of $75,000 and the 15,000 tons of ore now on the dumps being reported 
to have come from the development work. It is said that breasts of 
ore up to 12 feet wide occur at many places in the mine and that the 
principal shoot is 400 feet long. 

The ledge, which is inclosed in thin-bedded dark-gray siliceous 
limestone, strikes almost east and west and dips 40°-45° S. at the 
outcrop, gradually straightening to nearly vertical at the bottom of 
the 200-foot winze. The ore as seen on the dump consists of inti¬ 
mately associated tetrahedrite, sphalerite, galena, pyrite, and chalco- 
pyrite in a medium-grained quartz-siderite gangue. The outcrop of 
the ore body is a honeycombed iron-stained quartz through which 
galena and anglesite are sparsely distributed. 

Silver Crown mine .—The Silver Crown mine, formerly the Climax, 
is situated near the crest of the ridge one-half mile west of the Silver 
Star. Two tunnels, one 500 and the other 200 feet long, enter the 
hill from the north, and a third, 300 feet long, enters from the south. 
Ore worth $30,000 is said to have been shipped from the mine during 
the early period of activity in the district. The ore consists of tetra¬ 
hedrite, galena, and sphalerite sparsely scattered in a coarse quartz- 
siderite gangue. The deposit is within the area of siliceous limestone 
beds. 

King of the West mine .—The King of the West mine, situated near 
the head of King of the West Gulch, at an elevation of 7,300 feet, was 
located in 1881 and was worked for the next 12 years. The property 
includes three patented claims and a mill site at the mouth of the 
gulch, where there is a 50-ton concentrating mill equipped with jigs 
and trommels. The vein strikes northeast and dips steeply north¬ 
west, but none of the 3,000 feet or more of workings, consisting of a 
400-foot shaft and a principal tunnel, were accessible at the time of 
visit. The ore is said to have run 120 ounces of silver to the ton. 


ORE DEPOSITS IN SAWTOOTH QUADRANGLE, IDAHO. 239 

The principal minerals, as seen on the dump and about the mill, are 
galena and tetrahedrite in a quartz-si derite gangue. 

Sunday Group mine .—The Sunday group lies about one-half mile 
west of the King of the West on the north side of the canyon. It 
comprises two unpatented claims which contain veins reported to 
have produced $15,000 or $20,000 from argentiferous galena ores. 
Material on one of the four dumps suggests that the ore consisted 
of galena, pyrite, and clialcopyrite in a gangue composed of quartz 
and a little siderite mixed with calcareous shale and slate fragments 
from the inclosing rock. 

Stormy Galore mine .—The Stormy Galore group, comprising three 
unpatented claims, is situated near the head of West Richmond 
Gulch at an elevation of 7,500 feet. The mine is said to have pro¬ 
duced $100,000 from gray copper ore containing about 400 ounces of 
silver to the ton, the higliest-grade silver ore found in the district. 
Very little galena accompanies the tetrahedrite. The gangue is a mix¬ 
ture of the magnesian limestone wall rock and coarsely crystallized 
quartz. Cavities lined with quartz crystals are abundant in many 
specimens. The principal tunnel extends southward from a point near 
the creek level, but the one recently worked is 150 feet higher. Above 
this tunnel are two others, the four aggregating perhaps 2,000 feet 
of work. The vein, as exposed in next to the lowest tunnel, strikes 
N. 7° E. and dips 60° E., but both strike and dip vary from place to 
place. The stopes show it to have been from 2 to 8 feet wide, aver¬ 
aging perhaps 3 feet. The hanging wall is of fine-grained, bluish-gray 
magnesian limestone and is well defined; the footwall is of similar 
material but grades back through a zone of crushed and sheeted lime¬ 
stone into the undisturbed country rock. A narrow stringer of ore 
lies parallel to the vein 20 feet in the hanging wall, and another which 
strikes north-south and dips steeply west crosses the main vein. The 
mine has been worked intermittently since its discovery in 1882. 

Tyrannus mine .—The Tyrannus group, consisting of five patented 
claims, is on the north side of West Richmond Gulch near its head, 
7,700 feet above sea level and about 2,000 feet southwest of the 
Stormy Galore mine. A concentrating mill equipped with crusher, 
trommels, and five jigs is situated on the property. There are four 
tunnels, representing perhaps 4,000 feet of work in all, but only the 
lowest was accessible at the time of the writer’s visit. In this the old 
stopes indicate a vein from 18 inches to 8 feet wide, averaging per¬ 
haps 3 feet, which strikes N. 60° E. and dips 37° NW. The inclos¬ 
ing rock is calcareous slate with intercalated quartzitic slate and is 
traversed by dikes of diorite porphyry. The mine is credited by 
local residents with a production of $100,000 from argentiferous 
galena and tetrahedrite ores averaging about 100 ounces of silver to 
the ton. The gangue minerals are quartz and siderite. The mine 


240 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1913, PART I. 

-* V 

was worked intermittently from its discovery in the fall of 1882 until 
1906, at first by the original locators and later by a French company. 

Other mines and prospects .—Several other mineral claims are rec¬ 
ognized in the district, but none of them were being worked in 1912, 
and so far as known to the writer none have produced more than a 
small amount of ore. Most of them are in the vicinity of Worwick 
hot springs. A large number of claims north of the springs are 
known as the Rosetta group, and others a few miles to the south as 
the Five Points group. None of these claims were visited during the 
reconnaissance. 

LITTLE SMOKY DISTRICT. 

The Little Smoky district, so named because it includes the area 
about the headwaters of Little Smoky Creek, lies east of the Rosetta 
district. Most of the recognized deposits are less than 10 miles south¬ 
west of Carrietown. The district embraces a large area of the Ter¬ 
tiary eruptive rocks and a small portion of the area of Paleozoic beds 
which contain the principal deposits of the Rosetta district. Both 
lead-silver and gold-silver ores have been exploited in the district, 
but the total production has been small. 

The Hidden Treasure is said to be one of the more promising groups. 
It comprises four unpatented claims developed by a 40-foot shaft and 
three short tunnels; in all less than 1,000 feet of work. Considerable 
ore is said to be blocked out in the mine and to average 15 to 20 per 
cent lead, 10 ounces silver, and 0.2 ounce gold to the ton. It has pro¬ 
duced about $8,000. Other groups in the district are the Smoky 
Bullion, Idaho Chief, Prince of India, Gopher, Flynn Consolidated, 
Stewart, and Stratford. Below these claims, along the valley of 
Little Smoky Creek, are the Rawley, Hollister, and Rollins placers, 
each of which has been worked intermittently in a small way for a 
number of years. The deposits of the district were not examined 
during the reconnaissance. 

WARM SPRINGS DISTRICT. 

BOYLE MOUNTAIN. 

The deposits near Boyle Mountain lie within the Warm Springs 
district, which extends into the area from the Hailey quadrangle. 
Rooks Creek, a small tributary to Warm Springs Creek from the 
north, drains the eastern slope of Boyle Mountain and flows through 
an area which has produced nearly $1,000,000 from lead-silver ores 
and perhaps $50,000 from zinc ores. A batholithic mass of dark-gray 
medium-grained soda granite, locally with a phenocrystic develop¬ 
ment of the feldspars, protrudes through the Paleozoic slates and 
calcareous sandstones over an area of perhaps 5 square miles. The 


ORE DEPOSITS IN SAWTOOTH QUADRANGLE, IDAHO. 


241 


principal deposits occur near the northwest border of the granite, in 
part in the igneous and in part in the sedimentary rocks. 

The Old Ontario and Lucky Boy mines, both acquired several yearn 
ago by the Boston & Idaho Mining Co., are the principal deposits in 
the vicinity of Boyle Mountain., The Ontario lies west of the creek 
and Lucky Boy east of it. In the canyon separating them the Bos¬ 
ton & Idaho Co. erected a 100-ton concentrating mill in 1907 but 
has treated very little ore in it. The period of active production 
extended from 1881 to 1887, the output during later years being erratic 
and small. , 

The Ontario mine is opened by tunnels aggregating several thou¬ 
sand feet of work both in the granite and in the Paleozoic sedi¬ 
mentary rock. Two systems of veins, each offset by numerous normal 
faults, have been explored. At the time of visit, however, all the 
tunnels were inaccessible except one, and that one, which is in granite, 
was caved at a point 500 feet from the portal. Ore on the dump 
shows the vein to contain fine-grained galena, arsenopyrite, pyrite, 
and a little sphalerite and chalcopyrite in a quartz gangue. Specimens 
taken from the dump show that replacement of the granite was 
involved in the formation of the ore. Pyrite seems to have wandered 
farthest into the walls, but small patches of all the other minerals are 
abundant in specimens of the sericitized granite. The ores on this 
(west) side of the canyon were mined for silver and lead. 

The Lucky Boy mine, on the east side of the canyon, was not visited 
during the hasty reconnaissance. It is operated for zinc ores. Speci¬ 
mens of the ore consist of sphalerite, pyrite, and a little galena and 
arsenopyrite in a quartz-siderite gangue. The mine is said to have 
produced 2,600 tons of 45 per cent zinc ores from veins intermittently 
worked for several years. 


BOULDER BASIN. 

General features .—The mining claims of Boulder Basin, which lies 
north of Wood River near the eastern edge of the quadrangle, are 
recorded in the Warm Springs district, which lies mostly within the 
Hailey quadrangle. A good wagon road leads from Ketchum up the 
valley of Wood River and thence up the canyon of Boulder Creek, a 
total distance of 16 miles. Only the last mile of the road has a steep 
grade and even over this freighting is done with wagons. The nar¬ 
row canyon of Boulder Creek opens out near its head into a beautiful 
amphitheater, which is floored with meadowland dotted with several 
small lakes and is surrounded on the north, west, and south by pre¬ 
cipitous cliffs from 1,000 to 1,600 feet high. Boulder Peak, on the 
southwest side of the basin, rises 11,100 feet above sea level, being one 
of the higher peaks along the divide between the drainage basins of 
Salmon and Big Lost rivers on the north and Wood River on the 
south. The floor of the basin stands at an elevation of 9,500 feet. 


242 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1913, PART I. 

V 

Except for the heavy snows in winter the conditions are excellent 
for mining. Timber is plentiful, water for domestic use and for power 
is within easy reach, and the precipitous slopes make development by 
tunnels particularly advantageous. 

Geology .—The rock formations include a thick series of bluish and 
gray fine-grained quartzites and siliceous slates, which in general 
strike a little east of north and dip west at high angles. These are 
traversed by dikes that range in width from a few inches to a few 
hundred feet. In general the dikes follow the strike of the formations 
and dip 70°-85° W., many of them following bedding planes and 
others dipping more steeply than the bedding. They are exceedingly 
numerous, comprising perhaps one-third of the rock exposed in the 
sides of Boulder Basin. The study of them was too hurried to 
afford an adequate idea of their varieties and relations, but collected 
specimens include granite porphyry, quartz monzonite porphyry, 
diorite porphyry, and a rare lamprophyre identified as spessartite. 
The microscopic descriptions of these rocks appear in the section 
on the dike rocks (pp. 227-228). 

Principal claims .—The principal claims in Boulder Basin and vicin¬ 
ity are held by two companies, the Golden Glow Mining Co. and the 
Boulder Consolidated Mining Co. The former owns 5 patented claims 
and the latter 23 unpatented claims surrounding the other group and 
extending southeastward. The principal output, said to be about 
$1,000,000, has come from the Golden Glow ground, which was located 
in 1879, relocated in 1882, and actively exploited during the next 10 
years. In recent years small shipments have been made, those in 
1911 returning $15,000 from 125 tons of ore. This ore contained 
from 43 to 58 per cent of lead, 1 to 2 per cent of copper, and 0.32 to 
0.63 ounce of gold and 56 to 92 ounces of silver to the ton. 

Golden Glow mine .—The Golden Glow mine is on the west side of 
the Boulder Basin cirque. Development consists of four tunnels and 
one shaft. The tunnels, numbered consecutively from the lowest to 
the highest, represent, respectively, 800, 390, 625, and 90 feet of 
work; the shaft is above and is 125 feet deep. The levels are about 
110 feet apart and are situated nearly one above the other. 

The mine contains one principal vein, which strikes in general 
N. 50° E. but locally turns abruptly east. The general dip is about 
70° SE., but locally it is in the opposite direction, as between levels 
Nos. 2 and 3. The vein material is bordered by well-defined walls, to 
which the ore adheres firmly in most places. The space between the 
walls is locally filled in large part with sheeted and crushed wall rock; 
elsewhere with vein quartz. Three principal ore shoots have been 
worked. The largest shoot begins 191 feet from portal No. 2 and 
continues for 100 feet. Sixty-five feet below this level it is 150 feet 
long, but 60 feet above the level the ends draw in until they are only 


ORE DEPOSITS IN SAWTOOTH QUADRANGLE, IDAHO. 243 

5 feet apart. This continues a short distance upward and then the 
length again increases to 100 feet on level No. 3. Fifteen feet above 
this level the ore heads squarely against a smooth surface of quartz¬ 
ite. About 300 feet west of this shoot, beyond a dike of granite por¬ 
phyry, there is another, which, as developed, ranges from 10 to 100 
feet in length, averaging perhaps 30 feet. It has been opened to a 
depth 50 feet below level No. 3 and continues from it to the surface, 
125 feet above. Ninety feet west of this shoot is the “Cache shoot,” 
which was worked by shaft to a depth of 125 feet. It contained ore 
said to have averaged 55 to 60 per cent in lead and 360 ounces in silver 
and 3 ounces in gold to the ton. The shoot was from 10 inches to 2 
feet wide and averaged about 90 feet long. In the other shoots the 
ore is of much lower grade, and in each the width of the vein is from 

6 inches to 6 feet, averaging perhaps 20 to 24 inches. 

Oxidation is almost complete down to level No. 3, where the ore is 
a porous quartz heavily stained with iron and manganese, containing 
lead carbonate in bunches and pockets. Below, the ore consists of 
galena and a little sphalerite, pyrite, and chalcopyrite in a quartz 
gangue, containing a little calcite and siderite. Proustite and steph- 
anite are present locally in very small amounts. 

Several of the dikes in these deposits cut across the veins, in places 
dividing a vein as would a wedge, but elsewhere causing considerable 
offsets, as in level No. 3, where, on the west side of the dike, the vein 
is shifted 50 feet to the north. Locally, however, stringers of primary 
ore cut the dike rocks, suggesting that the injection of the dikes and 
the formation of the veins were nearly synchronous. The sequence 
of dike injection is not known, but in tunnel No. 3 granite porphyry 
traverses the ore, and in tunnel No. 2 ore of the middle shoot shows 
replacement phenomena against a lamprophyre dike. 

Boulder Consolidated mine .—The Boulder Consolidated group com¬ 
prises 23 claims, which surround the Golden Glow group and extend 
southeastward across the high elbow in the west rim of Boulder Creek 
canyon and down to the creek level, nearly a mile distant. Here a 
long crosscut enters the canyon side at an elevation of 7,950 feet, and 
so rapidly attains depth that at the present face, 1,000 feet from the 
portal, it is said to be about 1,500 feet below the surface. At a dis¬ 
tance of 4,000 feet, according to the company surveys, the face will 
be directly below the Golden Glow ore body. The tunnel extends 
N. 64° W. and traverses, almost at right angles to their strike, steeply 
dipping quartzite beds which have been intruded by dikes, princi¬ 
pally of granite porphyry, so numerous that more than half of the 
total length of the tunnel is in igneous rock. 

Stringers of pyrite accompanied by a little sphalerite and zinc blende 
occur at several places in the tunnel, but no ore body of minable size 
had been found at the time of visit. Small prospect tunnels and pits 


244 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1913, PART I. 

* V 

at several places on the surface show evidence of mineralization, and 
it is hoped that the crosscut will reveal ore beneath some of these. 
The main object in driving it, however, is to reach a point beneath 
the Golden Glow ore bodv 1,300 feet below the lowest Golden Glow 
level. 

GALENA DISTRICT. 

The Galena district has always occupied a subordinate place in the 
• mining activity of the region. A 30-ton capacity smelter was built 
at the town of Galena, best known as a stage station, in the early 
eighties, but it ran for only a short time and with indifferent success. 
The principal mineral locations in the district are the Senate, Gladi¬ 
ator, and Carbonate Hill mines. Their production was small, and 
during recent years assessment work has not been kept up on most 
of the claims. The settlement of Galena is well within an area of 
Tertiary eruptive rocks, although some of the creeks that join Wood 
River near the station probably head in the older formations. The 
deposits were not visited. From Galena a trail leads north over the 
divide to Germania and Washington basins, and from these camps . 
much of the ore for the local smelter is said to have been obtained. 

EAST FORK DISTRICT (GERMANIA AND WASHINGTON BASINS). 

GENERAL FEATURES. 

The deposits of Germania and Washington basins are on the north 
side of Germania Creek, a tributary to East Fork of Salmon River 
near its head. They are in the East Fork mining district. 

The district is high and mountainous, with summits above 10,000 
feet in elevation, which rise abruptly from drainage lines 3,000 to 
4,000 feet lower. Steep slopes that are thickly covered with fir and 
pine make up most of the area, but about the heads of many of the 
glaciated canyons cliffs rise almost vertically for several hundred 
feet, and upon these there is no vegetation. Washington Basin 
comprises the upper end of one of these glaciated canyons and lies 
just north of Germania Basin, which is shown on the north edge of 
Sawtooth topographic sheet. Both basins drain to the southeast. 

The area is 50 miles by wagon road from Ketchum, the nearest 
railroad point. The route leads from Ketchum to the head of Wood 
River, over the Galena summit into the valley of Salmon River and 
thence up Pole Creek, over a fairly easy summit into Germania 
Basin and on into Washington Basin. The area also may be reached 
by trail from Clayton, about 25 miles to the north. 

PRINCIPAL CLAIMS. 

Lead-silver deposits. —Lead-silver deposits were discovered in Ger¬ 
mania Basin in 1880 and were worked for the seven years following. 
Two principal groups of claims were recognized —the Tvrolease, 


ORE DEPOSITS IN SAWTOOTH QUADRANGLE, IDAHO. 245 

comprising two unpatented claims, and the group owned bv the 
Wood Livestock Association, comprising six patented claims. The 
Tyrolease made only a small production, but the deposits of the other 
group shipped ore worth more than a quarter of a million dollars. 
The Parnell claim, separately owned, is said to have produced 
$125,000. During this period of seven years two or three other 
lead-silver veins that crop out in the south wall near the head of 
Washington basin were also being worked, producing possibly 
$50,000. 

Gold quartz ledges .—Prior to 1894 no serious attention was given 
to the large low-grade gold-quartz ledges, five in number, which crop 
out in a low ridge of igneous rock that divides Washington Basin 
lengthwise into north and south parts. Since 1894, however, the 
number of claims in the area on which annual assessment work is 
done has increased from 2 or 3 to 20 or more. Eleven of these com¬ 
prise the Empire group, on which the only noteworthy development 
has been accomplished. A few years ago this group was bonded, 
but the option was forfeited. 

The rock formations in the vicinity comprise a thick series of sedi¬ 
mentary beds invaded by masses of porphyritic quartz monzonite. 
The sedimentary rocks include fine-grained quartzite overlain by 
dark-colored massive dolomitic limestone, which grades into a suc¬ 
cession of alternating blue and white limestone and next into black 
slate, comprising in all 1,500 feet or more of beds similar to those ex¬ 
posed in the south side of Washington Basin. The igneous rock con¬ 
sists of orthoclase, plagioclase, quartz, and biotite with interstitial 
areas packed with micropegmatite. 

Last Resort vein .—The Last Resort vein strikes N. 60° E. and dips 
40° SE. It may be traced through three claims, except for a gap of 
about 400 feet, and averages in width about 6 feet, although it is 
locally as much as 12 feet across. It is developed by a tunnel 112 
feet long, which if continued for 1,500 feet would attain a vertical 
depth of 350 feet. It is also exposed in a dozen or more short tunnels, 
open cuts, and pits. In all the exposures the vein material is an iron- 
stained coarse-grained quartz with scattered patches of honeycomb 
quartz. It is said to carry $3 to $5 in gold to the ton. 

Empire vein .—The Empire vein or ledge strikes N. 25° E. and dips 
55° SE. It is entirely inclosed in the porphyritic granite and crops 
out at short intervals through four claims. Its average width is 
about 30 feet, though in one place on the crest of the ridge it is 72 
feet across. Development consists of two tunnels, two shallow 
shafts, and several trenches. The lower tunnel is 450 feet long, the 
upper one 150 feet. The vein material is coarse-grained bluish 
quartz and partly replaced quartz monzonite. Near the surface it 
is intensely oxidized in most places, but at a depth of a few feet 
primary minerals appear. Arsenopyrite occurs as small patches and 


246 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1913, PART I. 

• V 

isolated prismatic crystals in the northern part of the vein. In the 
southern part pyrrhotite, with about an equal amount of intermixed 
quartz and diopside, forms a band 15 to 20 feet wide next to the 
hanging wall. Thin sections of this material show clearly that the 
pyrrhotite replaces quartz monzonite, the quartz of which remains. 
The feldspar and biotite crystals are completely transformed to 
pyrrhotite and diopside, the feldspar showing a slight tendency to 
be in the centers of diopside areas. Much of the diopside also is 
poikilitic with respect to quartz grains. Near the crest of the ridge 
the vein incloses a large lenticular mass of quartz monzonite in 
which considerable sphalerite occurs as isolated patches and stringers, 
some of which are 3 to 4 inches across. The sphalerite is accom¬ 
panied by a little galena, pyrite, stibnite, pyrrhotite, and arsenopy- 
rite. The quartz monzonite here is intensely sericitized and locally 
is greenish gray and of a silky luster. The feldspars are changed to 
a felted mass of sericite, which incloses grains of the sulphide min¬ 
erals. Chlorite and a little magnetite occur in areas probably occu¬ 
pied originally by biotite. In one of the thin sections of the sulphide 
ore the main mass, pyrrhotite, is intricately fractured and traversed 
by iron-stained quartz of netlike distribution. 

The tenor of the Empire ledge matter is not definitely known, but 
pannings from outcrop material show the presence of gold in many 
places. Mr. George Z. Blackman, of Clayton, Idaho, the owner, claims 
that ore from a 30-foot face in the lower tunnel averages $12 to the 
ton in gold, although it would seem from the panning of the speci¬ 
mens collected by the writer that this estimate is too high. On the 
crest of the hill the outcrop is said to contain $6 to $7 in gold to the 
ton. 

West Empire vein. —One hundred feet west of the Empire is a 
parallel ledge 15 feet wide known as the West Empire. It has not 
been developed. 

Vein east of the Empire .—East of the Empire, perhaps 100 feet, 
another quartz ledge appears at the surface for a considerable dis¬ 
tance, but has not been explored. 

Reconstruction vein. —The Reconstruction vein lies 400 feet east of 
the Empire and parallel to it. It is about 20 feet wide and, as 
exposed at the time of the examination, is an iron and manganese 
stained honeycombed quartz throughout. Sulphide minerals were 
not seen in any of the ore, but as the vein corresponds to the Empire 
in general appearance, it is probable that about the same mineral 
association characterizes the primary ore. Samples taken across the 
entire width of the vein are said to show by amalgamation tests a 
possible recovery of nearly $10 to the ton in gold. The gold pans 
readily but is verv fine and flaky. 


ORE DEPOSITS IN SAWTOOTH QUADRANGLE, IDAHO. 247 

VIENNA DISTRICT. 

GENERAL FEATURES. 

The Vienna district embraces an unorganized area in the western 
part of the quadrangle about the headwaters of Smiley Creek, a tribu¬ 
tary of Salmon River, and of Vienna Creek, a tributary of South 
Fork of Boise River. During the six years following the discovery 
of mineral in the district in 1879 the camp was an active mining center. 
The town of Vienna was a flourishing settlement of perhaps 1,000 in¬ 
habitants, 200 or more buildings, and a 50-ton capacity stamp and 
chlorination mill. None of the buildings now stand, however, 
though great piles of timber mark their positions and clearly bespeak 
the rapid depreciation of abandoned improvements in this area of 
heavy snow and long winters. The settlement is completely razed, 
and is about as desolate a place as one could imagine. Great tiers 
of cordwood, comprising possibly 20,000 cords in all, piled in the gulch 
and about the mill, tend to confirm the statement of former residents 
that activities in the district ceased abruptly. About eight years 
ago the claims were sold for taxes, and during 1912 three of them were 
worked under bond and lease from the person who bid them in. 
Many companies operated in the district during the first two or three 
years, but the claims were gradually consolidated into two principal 
groups, the Solace, with 16 patented claims, and the Vienna, with 33 
patented claims. 

PRODUCTION. 

The production of the district can not be stated exactly, but is 
probably about $1,000,000. Statements from the reports of the 
Director of the Mint for 1881 to 1884 afford some scattered and frag¬ 
mentary information which can not be satisfactorily tabulated. 
The Vienna mill seems to have been erected soon after the discovery 
of the Mountain King ledge, in June, 1881, and to have produced 
$300,000 during 1883 and about $200,000 during 1884, all in silver 
bullion containing some gold. In 1883 the Mountain King, a claim 
of the Vienna group, is said to have produced $103,600 from ore con¬ 
taining 20 to 30 ounces of silver to the ton. During this period other 
claims in the district were producing some ore, but the amount is not 
a matter of official record. The production after 1884 is not given 
specifically for this district. 

PRINCIPAL MINES. 

Development .—The mines are about 2 miles south of the old town 
of Vienna, near the head of the west branch of Smiley Creek. De¬ 
velopment is extensive, possibly aggregating 15,000 or 20,000 feet 
of work, as estimated from the size of numerous dumps on both sides 
and around the head of the canyon. The principal workings of the 
Solace mine are about half a mile south of the Vienna. 


248 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1913, PART I. 

: V 

Geology .—The deposits of the district occur well within the area 
of the Idaho granite, which crops out over most of the central part of 
the State. Here the granite is a light-gray equigranular rock, which 
along the veins is intensely sericitized, quartz being the only mineral 
in it which is unaltered. Along the gulch a few miles below the mine 
a little limestone float was seen, but it is not known to have any rela¬ 
tion to the ore deposits and is certainly of small extent within the 
drainage area of Smiley Creek. About a mile below the old town of 
Vienna is the southwestern side of a wide belt of Tertiary lavas which 
extends northward for many miles along the course of Salmon River. 

Mountain King mine .—At the time of the writer’s visit only the 
Mountain King workings were accessible. They had recently been 
cleaned out in part by a group of men who held three claims of the 
Vienna group under bond and lease, and who were seeking lead-silver 
ores in the old silver-quartz stopes. This is said to be the only mine 
in the district which contains important amounts of lead ores, and as 
lead was not desired in the chlorination mill owned by the old company 
it was not removed from the mine. The ore occurs along a crushed 
zone that strikes N. 60° W. and dips 51° NE. in the upper levels and 
80° i n the lowest or No. 4 level. Development comprises about 6,000 
feet of work in four drifts on the vein. As shown by the old stopes 
the ore body was about 700 feet long and ranged in width from a few 
inches to 15 feet, probably averaging about 4 feet. It is said that 
material from these stopes averaged between 20 and 30 ounces of 
silver to the ton and contained a noteworthy amount of gold. The 
best lead ore was found on level No. 3 near raise No. 9, where a small 
vein which strikes N. 40° E. intersects the main lode. The silver-quartz 
ore occurred as a band 8 to 20 inches wide alongside the galena ore, 
either next to the hanging wall or next to the footwall. Both sorts 
of ore show abundant evidences of replacement of crushed granite. 
Next to the vein, pyrite as isolated cubes and stringers is developed 
in the granite, and sphalerite and galena replace blocks of wall rock 
within the fissure. The granite is intensely sericitized adjacent to 
the fissure, and locally chlorite is abundantly developed. The lead 
ore is irregularly distributed along the fissure and ranges in width 
from 1 inch to 6 feet. 

Assay records supplied by T. H. Williams, who with two associ¬ 
ates held the bond and lease in 1912, are as follows: 


Assays of ore from veins of Mountain King mine, Idaho. 


W idth in 
inches of 
vein 

sampled. 

Gold. 

Silver. 

Lead. 

Zinc. 

Insoluble. 

Sulphur. 

Iron. 

Copper. 

16. 

Ounces. 

1.07 

1.58 

.98 

.58 

Ounces. 

26.4 

11.1 

4.9 

6.8 

Per cent. 
28.0 
6.8 
1.2 
11.4 

Per cent. 
14.9 
4.0 
12.4 
14.2 

Per cent. 
4.6 
27.2 
10.4 
27.8 

Per cent. 
26.1 
21.6 
34.0 
22.4 

Per cent. 

13.5 
21.8 

25.6 
14.3 

Per cent. 
0.3 
.2 
.2 
.2 

24. 

20. 

72. 
































ORE DEPOSITS IN SAWTOOTH QUADRANGLE, IDAHO. 249 

Three carloads of hand-sorted ore said to average $50 to the ton 
were shipped from the mine in 1912. This ore consisted of galena, 
sphalerite, and pyrite in a coarse-textured quartz gangue. 

SAWTOOTH DISTRICT. 

The Sawtooth district, which embraces a large area south and south¬ 
west of Alturas Lake, was not visited during the reconnaissance. 
The district was the seat of an important mining industry from about 
1880 to 1888. During much of this time about 150 men were em¬ 
ployed in the area and ore said to have been worth nearly $1,000,000 
was produced. Detailed records of this early activity are not avail¬ 
able, but in the reports of the Director of the Mint for 1881 to 1884, 
inclusive, brief references to the camp appear in the notes on Alturas 
County, which then included the area. Deposits were opened on 
Beaver, Eureka, and Jake gulches, all of which produced high-grade 
silver ore, some of it containing as much as 4,000 ounces of silver to 
the ton, but after two or three years the Silver King and Pilgrim 
mines, both owned by the Columbia & Beaver Co., were the principal 
producers. A 20-stamp mill erected near the town of Sawtooth 
made its first run in the fall of 1883, producing $60,000 worth of 
bullion in 45 days. 

The mode of occurrence of the ore is said to be similar to that at 
Vienna. All the deposits are veins in granite. The principal ore 
minerals are proustite, cerargyrite, and silver-bearing sphalerite in a 
quartz gangue. Galena is notably scarce and in most places is 
absent. The district is extensively developed, but work was aban¬ 
doned so long ago that all the tunnels are reported to be caved. The 
Silver King shaft, 600 feet deep and the most extensive working in 
the district, is in the flat of Beaver Creek. The workings are entirely 
flooded. This mine is said by those who worked in its lower levels 
to contain a 16-inch band of ore which carries 350 to 400 ounces of 
silver to the ton and a little gold. The silver occurs as proustite 
and a “fine-grained greasy substance,” which the miners called 
“black metal.” The mine was worked from 1881 to 1888 and ac¬ 
cording to the statement of former residents of the district is reputed 
to have produced $700,000, principally during the last two years in 
which it was operated. 


o 









































































